Columbia, SC – Officials at the
South Carolina Department of Mental Health (SCDMH) and the board of the
Santee-Wateree Community Mental Health Center announced today that Sumter
native Richard B. Guess, M.Ed. has been named executive director of the
mental health center. Mr. Guess has worked for the SCDMH since 1996, as
director of Emergency and Crisis Services at Lexington County Community
Mental Health Center.

According to Geoff
Mason, SCDMH Director of Community Care Systems, “Mr. Guess will bring a
great deal of clinical and management experience to the Sumter position,
and I believe he will work closely to build alliances within the
Santee-Wateree community and strengthen the continuum of care for
individuals and their families whose lives have been impacted by a mental
illness. He is a strong leader who will unite employees and advocates to
continue the fine work of the Santee-Wateree Community Mental Health
Center.”

A summa cum laude graduate of the University of South
Carolina, Mr. Guess has a master’s of education degree in secondary
guidance. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Trevecca
Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mr. Guess has more than 20 years of experience in the
field of human services. He is a designated examiner for the probate
court system and has been qualified by various trial courts as an expert
witness.

The South Carolina Department of Mental Health
(SCDMH) is an integrated system of care offering an array of programs and
services to meet the behavioral health needs of adults, children and
adolescents and their families. The SCDMH operates seventeen community
mental health centers around the state as well as two psychiatric
hospitals and two nursing homes.